FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason wrestling team is ready for a challenging 2022-23 season, its fourth in the Mid-American Conference. The schedule includes 19 duals, with Mason hosting eight duals in Fairfax. The Patriots have been selected to host the MAC Wrestling Championships, March 3-4 at EagleBank Arena.
 
Mason wrestling is celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the program during the 2022-23 season. The Golden Ticket Gala will take place on Sat. Oct. 29 at the Fairfax Hilton. The annual team wrestle-offs will take place earlier that day (1:00 p.m.) at the George Mason Field House.
 
The Patriots will open the season competing at the Princeton Open on Nov. 6 at Princeton University in New Jersey.  

The annual Mason Duals are slated for Nov. 12. Mason will face Queens University, Millersville University, and Williams College at the Recreation Athletic Complex (RAC).
 
To finish the month, the Patriots will participate in the annual Keystone Classic, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, on Nov. 20.
 
The Patriots will host back-to-back events, with a tri-meet against Bloomsburg and Gardner Webb on Friday, Dec. 2, and its annual ARMS Software Patriot Open, scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Field House. 
 
Mason will host rival American University on Dec. 18. It will be the 34^th meeting between the two programs, with the Eagles owning a slight 18-15 edge in the series. The Patriots edged the Eagles, 20-16, at Bender Arena last season. The win was the first against AU since the 2007-08 season, snapping a 10-match winless streak in the series.
 
The team will travel to South Carolina to battle Presbyterian College and Duke University in a tri-meet on Wednesday, Dec. 21. The Patriots will wrap up the year 2022 at the Midlands Championships, Dec. 29-30.
 
The Green and Gold will ring in the new year will back-to-back matches against Power 5 schools, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Mason will take on the Cavaliers at St. Christopher's School in Richmond. A preseason top 25, the Hokies will travel to Fairfax for a Sunday afternoon match against the Patriots in the RAC on Jan. 8. Virginia Tech has been a perennial wrestling powerhouse, finishing in the top 15 at the last 11 NCAA Championships, including an eighth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championships.

The team will travel for four straight road matches to open its MAC Conference schedule. The opener against Clarion (Jan. 20); Edinboro (1/21); and a tri-meet at Cleveland State with SIUE (Jan. 29).  The Patriots will be back on the road to face Hofstra (2/13) and in Brooklyn for a tri-meet with LIU and Drexel (2/4). 
 
The Green and Gold will celebrate Senior Day by hosting Lock Haven, the Patriots lone home dual in February, on Saturday, Feb. 11.
 
The 2022-23 regular season will wrap up with a dual at Rider (2/17) and a tournament at Franklin & Marshall on Feb. 19.
  
George Mason University will host the Mid-American Conference Championships on Mar. 3-4.  The NCAA Championships will be held Mar. 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.